


STRQ

by epitomizedTyrant



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Role Reversal, kind of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-25
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-06 14:36:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12819654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/epitomizedTyrant/pseuds/epitomizedTyrant
Summary: Three months ago the intrepid Xiao Long siblings, Summer and Tai, were paired with the Branwens to make Team STRQ.Tonight is when things get interesting.





	1. Chapter 1

               With a resounding thud Tai Yang found himself laying face first in the dirt, an unimpressed Raven standing over him, sliding away her katana.

               “Good hustle team!” Summer cheers from the sidelines, the ever present white cloak fluttering over her shoulders. “Raven, Badass as usual! Tai, you need to learn to rely on more than those hams!”

               Tai laughed a bit and shrugged. “Lets go eat guys, I’ve had my butt kicked enough today and we still have professor Nora’s class. I don’t want to try and ride an ursa on an empty stomach.”

               “Oh come on now! There’s about a fifty percent chance she will wind up teaching us something!” Summer patted him on the back as they made their way to the cafeteria, the Branwen’s following close behind.

               The pair shared a knowing look as the siblings ahead of them  continued down the conversational rabbit hole. The contrast of the pair of bright, eternally upbeat brother and sister and the brooding siblings behind them made them wonder how much Headmaster Oscar fixed the system that chose teams.

               Team STRQ, Stark white for their leaders color scheme whether by coincidence or contrivance. He supposed that was fine, it was a school not a game so it hardly mattered if they fixed some things to work well.

               A month in Qrow found himself honestly enjoying being around his new team mates. Tai was fun, he was happy, and he was always ready to be a ray of sunshine. Summer was a little shy usually, but she seemed incredibly at home in battle and during training. She was the worlds friendliest drill sergeant, something she apparently learned from her Aunt.

               Best of all they were bona fide badasses. Sure, Raven could usually kick Tai and his butts, but she was in her element dueling, she could take down a single target quickly and effectively, which made her very good at beating through Tai’s endurance and tankiness. He really wanted to see her go up against Summer. Honestly he just wanted their weapon obsessed leader to actually fully draw her weapon. Her weapon was a lot like his, with multiple levels of transformations. At its base form it was a white plated low impact sniper rifle, it could cut grimm down in a few bullets and its deep magazines let her keep firing for quite a while.

               Never yet had she fully transformed the massive rifle.

               A couple days before Tai Yang revealed that his weapons were a defensive focused redesign of their mothers weapons.  His gauntlets were long and armored, covering the lengths of his forearms. The belts of flares were wrapped through the whole length of the weapons, a lot like his sisters he was able to keep up a barrage of fire. They were a good match for the melee goddess that was his sister and himself, an excellent flexible range fighter.

               Soon they were winding through the cafeteria, apparently they had decided to join JGPB, one of the teams that had arrived with them. He fondly remembered the celebration, when Oscar read the initials aloud he went silent. Inhaled deeply. And chucked his Scroll Tablet over his shoulder and announced “Team Jordy Blue” and walked quietly walked offstage where he was replaced by Weiss Schnee, the Head Administrator, who gave the commencement speech.

               By the time they sat down Bart had apparently already fallen asleep on the table listening to Peter prattle on about something. Glynda and James were sitting rod straight in their seats about a foot apart. The tension between them was starting to make him embarrassed. 

               “So apparently there was a really powerful hunter here over the weekend.” Tai was speaking to Glynda, but it was loud enough that everyone could hear.

               “Really? Who, exactly?” She would have seemed disinterested if not for the gleam in her eye. Glynda was a bit of a nerd when it came to huntsman.

               “No one knows! They landed in a big black ship  and they wore a cloak the whole time. Apparently a bunch of people saw them walking around with the headmaster!”

               “Hmmm. Usually if there’s a huntsman they teach a guest class or something, why do people think it’s a huntsman that came?” Port added, speaking in his odd lilt.

               Raven nodded at that, and Qrow felt proud of her progress in socializing.

               “Maybe they were having a secret meeting… yes, maybe they just had important matters to discuss and wanted to keep it private.” James finally decided to add.

               “Maybe it was Oscars secret lover.” Qrow decided it was time to add his own theory.

               “ _mffby, wf ffuld ffay ut ff hff bffnff_ ”

               “What did you say there Barty?” Port cheeriedly asked his friend with a hearty slap on the back. His glasses shot across the table in an awe inspiring arc. Qrow was a bit worried, but they landed in the deft hand of Tai Yang. He leaned across the table and gently slid them back on to Barts face, tenderly brushing aside a strand of wild green hair.

               “There ya go! Be more careful Peter!” he scolded. Bart sputtered a moment before adjusting himself and suppressing his blush with a murmured “Thanks.” Qrow saw Summer rolls her eyes behind Tai, but she was smiling.

               He needed to figure out this body language stuff, all everyone ever did back at the tribe was grunt and glare. He wishes he was exaggerating far more than he was.

               They took a few moments to shovel down their food before striking up a new conversation.

               “Professor Valkyrrie said we would have a pop quiz today, did you all make sure to study?” James leaned forward on his clasped hands.

               “Its Nora, she will probably have us go outside and fight ursa bearhanded or something.” Oobleck grumbled. Qrow wasn’t sure if he was joking.

 

               Half an hour later he really wished Bart had been joking.

               “ALLL RIGHT RECRUITS, PUT ON YOUR GLOVES, SHOW MOMMA NORA HOW TO KILL A GRIMM WITH STYLE!”

               Right out the gate three fourths of the team dodged to put some distance between themselves and the two ursa that had been released. Tai however set hi feet and prepared to hold his ground. He was joined by James and a couple other students whose abilities landed them in the “Tank” class. Summer saw the excellent opening for what it was.

               “Anyone whose semblances let them attack at range, wait until the grimm are distracted then shred them! everyone else get ready to bail out the frontline if this goes bad.” She desperately wished she had her rifle as she shot straight up in the air in a burst of white petals.

               She stayed above the combat with short bursts of her semblance, it was hard on her aura reserves but the battle below was going well. Glynda and a couple of the other mage students were focusing as hard as they could, without their equipment it was hard to channel aura offensively, but the occasional bolts of energy were doing steady damage and the stronger students punching and kicking at the pair ursa were holding aggro well. The rest of the students were staying out of the way but she could tell they were ready to attack as soon as the tanks needed to retreat.

               She felt a little guilt about using terms from her games to refer to fellow students, but she figured it was so accurate that the nomenclature was acceptable.

               She spared a moment to look to their professor. She was standing off to the side of the impromptu arena grinning like a madwoman as Professor Ren argued… at her. A blonde man she recognized quite well was standing off to Nora’s other side, he was wearing simple jeans and a T shirt with a bunny symbol on it. He looked tired, and vaguely amused at their predicament.

               She wondered what Uncle Jauney was doing there before she focused back on the fighting. Tai’s semblance looked like it was nearly charged, which was lucky because the other tanks were on the verge of breaking. The Ursa weren’t as injured as she had hoped they would be.

               “Tai, get fired up as soon as you can, we have to go on the offensive soon!”

               He nodded, acting on her words by pushing another tank out of the way to take a particularly heavy paw drop on his forearms. He was looking a little roughed up but gave her a thumbs up. The timing was perfect as the mages were looking exhausted after such intense focus.

               Tai exploded in a gout of flames as he hit one of the Ursa at full power, splattering grimm ichor across the field. He faltered a bit, but the other Ursa couldn’t capitalize on the opportunity as it was pushed around the field by a barrage of the other students fists.

               She climbed a little higher and took aim at the remaining Ursa. With what little aura she had left she accelerated to her max speed and laid a kick that slammed the Ursa into the ground. As it was prone the other students took the opportunity to finish it by grabbing its head in a group lock and twisting until a sickening snap echoed off the walls and the grimm started to evaporate from under her feet.

               “Holy Shit! This was supposed to be a lesson about strategic retreats but I’ll be fucked if you didn’t do the damn thing!” Nora was positively beaming with pride at her students.

               Ren had his face in his hands, while Jaune just looked bemused at the antics. A shout of “Uncle Jaune!” Alerted him to the pair of teenagers sprinting at him just in time to catch their tackle hugs and coolly swing around and set them back on the ground.

               The other six slowly followed as Nora dismissed the class, promising everyone A’s. Glynda had a look of awe on her face and James was straightening out his uniform, which was still impeccable despite the beating her just took.

               “Your team mates are related to Jaune Arc?” Glynda whispered harshly to Qrow, who winced a little.

               “I geuss? Is he important?” He whispered back as the Xiao Longs spoke with him excitedly.

               “Important? He’s only the former leader of Team JNPR and Team RNJR! The most successful huntsman team and wartime huntsman teams respectively!” she hissed.

               “Okay, okay, sorry. I don’t know much history, alright?” He sighed. Only what he learned at beacon, actually, aside from the tribes history.

               “Team JNPR was the face of Beacon after they graduated up until the war. Particularly he and Pyrrha Nikos, for his kind hearted everyday man demeanor and her incredible combat history and her reputation as an absolute cinnamon roll. After the war broke out and Pyrrha Nikos was murdered team RWBY broke up for unknown reasons, and team RNJR was formed. They led the offensive retaliation and made opportunities for Vales military. They are basically credited for the Vale victory.”

               “… So jeans and T-shirt is actually a badass?” Qrow looked with disbelieving eyes at the tired looking blonde.

               “Not just him, Nora and Ren were also on both teams.” Qrow looked at the professors with new respect. “He teaches at signal academy, on the island of Patch.”

                “There is quite a bit of debate about whether or not the RNJR spearhead was intentional, or if the opportunities were happy accidents that happened as RNJR went on a violent revenge quest.” Bartholomew Oobleck yawned as soon as he finished his addition and continued to slump.

               “If it weren’t for the team containing both Nora Valkyrrie and Ruby Rose I’d disagree, as neither Jaune nor Ren seem to be the vengeance types. However, having been taught by Nora and heard stories about Ruby…” Glynda nodded to Oobleck.

               “It certainly seems likely.” Bart concurred.

               “”

               Moments earlier Jaune set his honorary niece and nephew down.

               “Hey kids, its been awhile. How do you like beacon? I hear the faculty there is crazy!” He ribbed Nora who responded by blowing a raspberry at him.

               “Its awesome here!” Tai pumped his fist in enthusiasm while Summer nodded with a smile.

               “The teachers are eclectic but we’ve learned a lot.”

               “You’ll have to introduce me to your teammates! But later, I bet you have classes still today.”

               “Actually this is our last class for today, Ren decided to cancel his class and let the students catch a break.” Raven spoke levelly. As she usually did, although Summer thought something was just a little off.

               “Ugh, he’s spoiling you kids!” Nora complained in response before pushing past Jaune to address team STRQ, and by proxy team JBGP. “Anyway, Stark, you kids are getting extra credit since Summer took charge of the damn fight immediately and Tai Yang pretty much killed one of them by himself. Heh, Yang would be proud. Ill tell her all about it next time I see her.”

               “Anyway,” Jaune finally managed to continue. “I have a meeting pretty soon, but maybe I can take your team out for ice-cream later?”

               “We’d love to!” Summer smiled, but then turned to a thoughtful expression. “Probably, ill have to make sure that Raven and Qrow are cool with it. And I’ll have to reschedule our spar with team Jordy Blue.”

               “We can reschedule to another time, we won’t interfere.” James said almost too quickly.

               “Heh, you can all come if you want. It’ll be great, we used to do this when we were at beacon too, Yangs dad always would come by and take us out to get ice cream.”

               “Okay, lets meet at the docks then. What kind of meeting is it?” Summer cocked her head sideways.

               “It’s a secret.” He winked. “Nah, I kid, I just need to have the headmaster sign some transfer papers for me, boring logistic stuff.”

               “And hes scheduled to do so in five minutes, which is a pretty tight timeframe to get to the headmasters office from here.” Ren said as he steered Jaune toward the door, followed by Nora who waved goodbye enthusiastically.

               “See you later!” Jaunse shouted as he was pushed inside.

               James and Glynda  looked expectantly at STRQ, while Bart seemed to perk up a bit and Port finally rejoined them after taking a moment to rest.  He had gotten pushed in with the tanks even though he was a far better rifleman, so he spent the battle dodging swipes with surprising grace.

               The eight of them stood around for a moment, an awkward silence fell and was immediately broken by Summer. “So, who wants to get ice cream with Uncle Juane?”

               James seemed a little star struck still. Glynda seemed to be geeking out in what was the most refined and elegant way possible. Bart seemed unenthusiastic. Port really liked the sound of that ice cream. As did Qrow. Raven seemed interested in getting to know her teammates family. And of course the Xiao Long twins were looking forward to seeing their honorary uncle again.  The decision was unanimous.

 

 

               A woman with long black hair slicked down over her back stood in front of Oscars desk. Her hair was squared off just below her shoulders so it didn’t cover the symbol on her short white cape that hung over her shoulders. The rest of her ensemble was themed black, a military cut trench coat hung past her knees which themselves were covered by a pair of tall boots that gave way to off white pants a few inches past her knees.

               The leader of the White Fang Blake Belladonna stood next to Head Administrator Weiss Schnee and the Esteemed Hunstman Jaune Arc, and before them sat Oscar Pine, the headmaster of Beacon.

               “So, as Blake is already somewhat aware of, we have something of a problem developing.”


	2. Chapter 2

               The smell of burnt black top and gunfire wafted through the air around the cordoned off section of highway. A Schnee semi sans trailer lay on its side, surrounded by various police officers milling about. Off a little ways stood a tallish woman, about six and a half feet not counting the little beret she wore, with bright red hair and freckles. She wore an Atlas military uniform that she somehow made to look almost casual with her practiced severity.

               Penny Polendina had always loved the city of Vale. Especially on days like this, when the air was cool and tickled her hair and made her artificial skin bunch up with little dots. Sure, standing outside a crime scene wasn’t necessarily her idea of a good time on her day off, but she never minded doing favors for her friends. The overturned Schnee truck was just part of the last nights robbery, the first part of the heist happened back in the shopping district, the police had chased the robbers out to this point and forced the truck off the road.

               She walked over to the deep gash in the black top, carefully scanning the glassy edge. Particles of expended fire dust coated the craters, a sure sign of a powerful dust user. Not incredibly powerful however, as from the report  they had only been able to fire two shots, neither described as particularly skilled ones, before the criminals clothes stopped glowing. The police had made more of her than they should have, she was intimidating sure but it was showmanship.

               “Do you want a coffee ma’am?” a young wolf faunas had appeared beside her. Obviously he was intimidated by having a Specialist Captain of the Atlas military interfering.

               She smiled in a way she hoped would be reassuring but instead was more blindingly saccharine and declined, waving him off. He nodded and jogged back over to his cruiser.

               She found herself sighing. She wasn’t going to be much help here. She wasn’t really sure why Weiss even wanted her to look into this. She should have just hired a PI like Sun. Well, she may as well do a couple basic checks while she was here. A small drone dispatched itself from her back and hovered about the scene, relaying a wealth of useless information back to her. Except… The dust particles were still active. Most of them at least. Whoever this dust mage was she had immense potential.

               Perhaps her presence would be useful. She paced some of the craters and ejected a sword. She scraped its scalpel tip against the crater wall and collected some dust. She pressed it to her tongue and began a full scan. Burn. Unsurprising. Thirty percent potential remained in the particles, an amazing waste of power. Even a spectacularly strong novice should of used more than seventy percent. Perhaps the mage was starting to panic. The level of refinement the dust had gone through indicated it was Schnee product.

               High quality SDC dust wasn’t particularly common, Miss Weiss’s brother was stingy about good dust. She looked around for a police officer to talk to, and settled on an old mustachioed man sipping on a coffee.  She jogged up to him and snapped off a quick salute. “Officer, do you have a cargo manifest for the trailer?”

               The cop shook his head after cheerfully saluting back. “Nah, its Schnee policy not to hand out manifests or business documentation without a court order.”

               “This is the fourth stolen Schnee transport this year.” Penny could have sworn she heard scuttlebutt of increased security measures.

               The officer snorted. “More like fourteenth. They’ve been trying to suppress it, but these trucks get hit almost every time they leave the docs. And they lost a full fucking freighter last month. The thing just disappeared between Atlas and Mistral.”

               “You think someone is targeting them.” She stated. It wasn’t a question, she thought it as well.

               “Yeah. Someone powerful. Seems easier to just buy dust than go through all this shit, but I don’t know the mind of a criminal.”

               “Hm. Thank you officer.”

 

\--

 

 

               Jaune Arc was nice. Qrow found himself enjoying the awkward old mans terrible jokes as they rode the air bus into the city. He was earnest, and a lot smarter than he let on. He was able to answer or dance around the many questions that team Jordy Blue leveled at him. Qrow had tried to follow that conversation but it veered from normal questioning into the kind of thing a historian asks a war veteran on a documentary. Not that he watched documentaries.

               Meanwhile Port had struck up a distinctly one sided conversation with his sister that somehow was in no way sleazy. Raven even seemed to be halfway enjoying hearing the stories that Peter rambled off, with the occasional correction from Bart. Amazing how the tired kid managed to pay attention to so much at once.

               “Im so glad we got some time like this. We needed a break from training all the time.” Summer said, almost conspiratorially to him. “Training is important, but we can’t allow ourselves to be consumed by… it.” She seemed to almost be reciting that last part. He studied her face but all he could detect was some faint happiness as she watched her friends. When she smiled she always smirked a bit on her right.

               “Yeah, besides if we get too good I’m never going to see what that rifle transforms into.”

               “Oh as soon as we start hunting grimm I’m sure you’ll see it.”

               “So where’s this ice cream shop anyway?” He didn’t want to admit it but he was really looking forward to some junk food. The cafeteria was good, but it was food for warriors.

               “Its on the edge of the market district. Mom and Cat mom always used to bring us there when we visited from patch. Aunt Ruby would always spend the first hour running between weapons stores.” At the mention of her aunt Summer seemed to perk up even more than she had before.

               “Aunt Ruby as in Ruby Rose right? Exactly how many world class huntsman do you know anyway?”

               “Well, our moms of course, Weiss is like an Aunt and Ruby is like mom number three, Jaune and Miss Penny and Nora and Ren and team BRNZ visits sometimes but Penny always gives May dirty looks… I dunno, mom and mom are pretty important. I cant believe we never talked about this. What is your family like?”

               He thought back to the tribe as he struggled for an answer. They were… fine, he supposed. A little backwards, a little cruel at times, but they had good hearts, for being bandits. The elders Branwen had been steering the tribe away from attacking random people and focusing more on Schnee caravans and even hiring out as defenses against grimm to local villages. It was controversial but accepted.

               For all Ravens grumpiness even she supported it. “They can be a bit intense, but they are well meaning folks.” He said after a minute. Best change the subject. He wasn’t ashamed of his family, but really there wasn’t much  “So whats Patch like?”

               “Oh its wonderful! Its so green in the spring and summer, that’s when we always went exploring! A lot less grimm around then too. Its sparsely inhabited so winters get a bit scary, the only real town is on the only real beach we have, which is pretty far from our house. So yeah when it gets really cold grimm like to come around, mostly Beowolf packs, but some real nasty types come around sometimes too. We have such a high huntsmen population that even at their worst the grimm aren’t a problem.”

               “Sounds delightful.”

               “It is! Maybe we can go on a training camp there! Forever Falls grimm are barely worthwhile to train on. We can hunt down a pack of Alphas this winter, maybe even find an Elder Nevermore!” There was a glint in Summers eye. It was almost… lustful was the wrong word, but it was something primal. Her silver eyes shone, no, they were literally glowing.

               “Whoa, lets not get ahead of ourselves. We barely took down those ursas with twenty some people earlier!”

               “Unarmed! If I had my baby I could have taken them alone!” Summer declared.

               “Is it healthy to love a gun so much?”

               “You sound like mom. Aunt Ruby said it was completely normal and important to care for your weapons as though they were your children or lovers!” She didn’t seem to realize how loud she had gotten.

               “To be fair, Rubes once tried to steal an Atlesian Aircraft carrier while on a bender, so maybe you should take what she says with a grain of salt.” Jaune casually interjected from his spot on the other bench, making Summer giggle. Raven raised an eyebrow at her.

               “Was that when she tried to seduce Winter with aunt Weiss standing right behind her?” Taiyang grinned from his spot beside Summer.

               “Which time?” Jaune put his face in his hands, ”God I can’t believe I have to ask that.”

               “… There were multiple times?” Tai and Summer asked in unison.

               “… You know, I remember when Yang stories were the most outrageous ones we had. The worst she ever did was go to bars and challenge literally everyone to a fight, or convince us all to gate crash some big party. Simpler times. Blake is such a calming influence. That and…” Jaune smiled, but after a moment it lost some of its luster. He didn’t quite loose his smile, but his happiness was certainly diminished. “Heh, never mind. So, what have you kids gotten up to at Beacon anyway? Doing your parents proud I hope?”

               “Absolutely! We’ve been training and studying everyday!” Summer beamed with pride.

               Jaune just shook his head and pretended to wipe away a tear. “You are such good kids. How those four raised you is truly beyond me.” He scratched his chin for a moment. “Blake. It must have been Blake.”

               “Yeah. Aunt Weiss is really responsible too though! She always brings us books and tells us to study!” Taiyang interjected, putting on a face and waggling a finger like he was imitating someone.

               “Pfft. That’s just because she’s all “ _I’m a Schnee, we must be the best role models, wah I’m so refined_ ” Ask Yang about June twenty seventh. It will change your perspective on so many things.”

               “Is this a story that we actually want to hear, or is it going to be like that time we overheard our moms talking about the “Vytalist of festivals”?” Summer’s words were foreign to Qrow, but he could taste the accusatory tone.

               Jaunes face went from calm and wistful to bright pink and terrified in seconds. “I… how much did you overhear?”

               “Not much, but from that face I’m assuming there were far worse things than we previously thought…” Taiyang looked mortified. Qrow wanted to know what they had heard before…

               “Do you mean the last Vytal festival before you graduated?” Glynda asked levelly, on eyebrow raised.

               “Yes… Why?” Jaunes tone was deeply suspicious and touched with an undercurrent of fear.

               “What little bits of it that were immortalized in history are… interesting.” Glynda glanced and Bart who blushed and looked away.

               “Holy crap I have so little context for this conversation.” Qrow finally spoke up.

               “Lucky you.” Jaun mumbled. “How much longer till we touch down?”

               Glynda grinned sadistically. “About as long as your skirt.”

               The landing gear hissed in protest mere seconds later as the air bus landed.

 

 

               The Ice cream shop, Neos Neo (We serve more than Neapolitan, we promise) was set up at the edge of the market district. Literally. It was the last shop before the pleasant big town light brown buildings and street lamps gave way to the industrial district, in which lay most of the seedier joints and factories. As well as loads of warehouses, most privately owned, and one very large and relatively reputable club owned by one Yang Xiao Long.

               The totally legit ice cream business was run by an odd pair, Roman Torchwick and Neapolitan were apparently old “friends” of team RWBY, and actual friends to Jaune. The two people behind the counter today were not them. The deer faunas looked over the group in fear, nine people, _nine students, **nine huntsman in training**_ , spoke ill for his shift.

               “Alright… so how are we going to do this?” Jaune looked over the gathered students.

               “Lets just order one at a time? That way we won’t overwhelm them and everyone will get their orders?”

               “That works, I’ll start! I’ll take the Eastern Front please.” He smiled at the cashier before turning to the students again. “You all take your time looking over the menu, they have… creative names here.”

               Summer and Tai had their apparent usual’s, Petal Blitz and Dragons Tongue respectively. The rest took their time, and plenty of it, to examine the menu. It really was bizarre, apparently the “Eastern Front” was a dark nod to the eastern front in Atlas, it consisted of cookies and cream ice-cream drenched in cherry sauce and stabbed erratically with angular bits of waffle cone. The Eastern Front of Atlas had been one of the bloodiest battlefields in the whole war. Petal Blitz was the most sickeningly sweet thing Qrow had ever laid eyes on, what could have been some good icecream was _absoulutely destroyed_ by strawberry slices and a strange red liquid that was either acting as a solid and a liquid at the same time or it was just moving VERY slowly. Dragons tongue appeared to be a relatively normal banana split. He was almost disappointed.

               He tried to pay attention to what everyone else was ordering, but most of them stayed pretty basic. Ironwood got a vanilla cone, which was fitting and at the same time deeply annoying. Glynda got some minty concoction called a Saint Andrews Cross, and Bart and Peter both bought ice cream Sundays of various kinds. Raven thought carefully and read over the menu, glaning occasionally at what the other had purchased, before surprising him.

               “I will take on Chocolate Thunder 2: Thunder Harder.” She somehow kept her usual intense tone throughout the order.

               He ultimately decided to order a Forever Fall Float.

               He got back to the table with his sister just as Taiyang asked, “So what was your meeting about?”

               Jaune looked thoughtful for a moment, then shrugged. “Its supposed to be a bit of a secret, but you guys wont tell anyone right?” They all dutifully shook their heads, “I’m actually transferring to beacon next semester so Weiss can focus on some other stuff for awhile. Ill be taking over about half the combat classes, among other things. Oscar actually managed to talk Blake into teaching a faunas history course. She will also be taking a fourth of the combat classes, and either Yang or Sun will be taking on the last fourth.”

               “Is… is something happening?” Tai asked, his twin leaned in attentively as well, she searched Jaune’s face as though she was interrogating him. Qrow wondered how the two could be twins for a moment. They really looked nothing at all alike.

               Jaune shifted uncomfortably while stammering out an answer, “No, no, you know how it is with the Schnees, more trouble with that little shi- uh, butt Wently. Whitley? Whitle?” That seemed to satisfy the twins, but Qrow could see the lie in his face. The others were probably just so used to the drama he was mentioning they thought nothing of it.

               “Well well well, its been awhile Jauney Boy!” an orange haired man shouted as he emerged from the curtain that cordoned off the back from.

               “Roman! How are you, you rapscallion?” Jaune stood happily and greeted the newcomer with a bizarre handshake.

               “Oh you know, its practically _stealing_ in this neighborhood! I’m making _highway robbery_ now that schools really back in session, business will start dropping off soon enough but hey, ride the wave while it lasts. What’s this lot then?” The bizarre man waved a cane at the assembled students.

               “They’re Tai and Summers friends from Beacon. I Figured I’d take them out for a treat after what they just endured from Nora.” Jaune shrugged.

               “Ah Beacon. I remember the good old days when you kids spent half your weekends chasing me across this city. Simpler times then, for you at least.”

               “I guess, yeah. Anything interesting happen around here recently?”

               “Nope, but that’s honestly the way I prefer it anymore. Except… a few of the Warehouses nearby got bought out, some of the workers who have been moving stuff around came through here.” His voice dropped to a whisper he thought only Jaune could hear. “They were wearing…” Roman spoke even more quietly for a moment, becoming indecipherable, ”… pins under their coats. It looked like they were hiding them.”

               “Hm.” Jaune, “That’s, quite worrying actually. Think they are back in town… officially?”

               “They’re doing something in Vale, that’s for damn sure. Back in town… I doubt it.”

               “Listen… Listen, don’t tell anyone, but Oz called a meeting today. I’m taking up a teaching position at Beacon for the foreseeable future.”

               Roman paused. He chewed on nothing, turning something over in his pocket. Then he nodded and smiled. “Well, glad to have you around, I’ll leave you kids alone with your fun.”

               “Good to see you Roman.” Jaune nodded as the distinctly overdressed man walked to the little curtain. He paused, on hand on the doorframe, and said “Ill call you soon, Jaune. Get properly caught up and all.” Before disappearing to the back.

               They went back to eating and having a good time, but Qrow paid a bit more attention to Jaune. He kept glancing at his scroll and looking tired. He was a bit quieter, and Qrow could tell he was thinking hard about something. Raven for her part noticed something was up as well. She had never been as good at reading people as Qrow, or most normal people in fact.

               Looking at Glynda and James proved that they too were attentive listeners. They seemed to scrutinize Jaune as much as he did, in spite of or perhaps because of their respect for the Huntsman. Raven liked them. They seemed… honorable. In ways few others were. Raven looked around the table at the two teams and the huntsman. These people, they were different than what she had known. But they were strong, they were honorable, and they were driven. These were people Raven would be proud to stand beside.

               Raven, for the first time since they were children reached out to Qrow and took his hand, and squeezed it. She gave him a grin, a grin that said “ _We are going to be just fine._ ”

 

 

               Oscar leaned forward, putting his hands in a steeple in front of his glasses. “Weiss. In addition to the logistical preparations I also want you to call your dear sister.”

               “And what is it you would like me to say to her, headmaster?” Weiss asked professionally, her own glasses gleaming in the light of the setting sun, obscuring her eyes. She lowered her tablet and he caught a glimpse of some spreadsheet. What an excellent organizer.

               “I’d like to hire the Atlas military for an official security position during the Vytal Festival. I think we might need her army. Something is going to happen, and I will not sit idly by and let it.”

               “You don’t think that will make the people worry?” She asked him, going back to work on her spreadsheet as she did so, apparently needing only half her attention for the conversation.

               “My predecessor did his best to stop the people from worrying, and yet they still fight and panic and cower, now they imagine threats where there are none. That fool Cardin’s little gang has stepped in to make sure of that. No, the people are scared and will always be scared. Our blades and bullets will be shield enough.” He swiveled the bizarrely phallic chair to face the window, to face the city.  He tapped his cane on the floor as he scanned the familiar skyline. “Did Penny find anything of note?”

               “In a way. We have a novice fire dust mage that shows great power potential, but is yet unskilled. And we still have no idea who keeps stealing my brothers dust. If we find them I’ll send them a gift basket before we arrest them.”

               “So, we think whoever keeps robbing the transports isn’t with the Cardinals?”

               “They have different MO’s and all of Cardins attacks are small scale. Whoever is robbing the SDC blind is stealing enough to fuel an army.”

               “Alright. Keep me posted.”

               “Will that be all sir?” Weiss asked.

               “Yeah… and Weiss?” She looked up at him, meeting his eyes with intensity. “Thank you. All of you.”

               She nodded. “Of course sir. We are more than happy to help. Good evening.” Weiss’s heels clacked against the glass floor, and soon the ding of the elevator told him she was gone.

               He looked back to the city. He could see the lake, the towers of the business district, the warm lights of the market district, the towering smokestacks of the maze like industrial district, he watched as an airship gently flew from the market relay towards his school.  More than eighty percent of the Kingdoms population lived in Vale city, one and  half million souls, they were his people, and he would do whatever was necessary to protect them. Grimm, gangs, his ancient enemy Salem herself, all of them threatened the kingdom and his people. The huntsman would rise to protect them. His military, his police, his friends. They could win this battle before it even started. He smiled, he stood, and he walked to the elevator.

 

 

               The warehouse doors ground shut after the matte black truck.  A stocky quarter master waved the semi on through to join its siblings at the elevator.

               “That’s four, right?” a raspy female voice interrupted the silence of the security room.

               “Yup. We can start assembling the next one now.” The short man dragged his feet of the small plywood “desk” and pulled his scroll out of his pocket. “Anything you want to request when I report this?”      

               “Furniture. A fridge. If we are setting up a long term base I don’t want it to look like shite forevah.”

               “Right, Right.” He dialed, “This is Vale six, number eight’s last truck has just come in, all fronts are clear. Oh, is she there?... Hey Boss, yeah, number eight’s last parts just got here…. Mhm… yes ma’am… yes she’s here… she’s grumpy about the furniture situation, but otherwise fine… yeah Marston is around somewhere… okay… What do you mean we wont be handling…. Okay… alright, yeah, I’ll check up on the floor but I think this base can… full acquisition power? Seriously? Of course, it will be done ma’am.”

               He closed the scroll and stood. “What was that about.” His companion asked through a mouthful of smoke, making him scrunch up his nose at the offensive odor of the oversized cigar.

               “Change in plans, the other eight are going to Vale seven, we have a new order coming in tomorrow. Come on, I need to take some measurements and do a stock check.”

               “Anythin I need ta worry ‘bout?”

               “Nah, this order should come mostly assembled, we just need to hook up the weapons systems and prep them.”

               “Gotcha.”

**Author's Note:**

> Will this be a long fic? Who knows! I just rewrote most of Rust Red and am desperately suppressing the urge to write a RWBY/Destiny thing, so we will see where that goes. 
> 
> I need a better name for it.


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